The Green Department is currently monitoring the forecast and soil conditions to make a decision on when to open the golf course. Based off today’s forecast I feel we should be able to open the Fall’s nine on Thursday. We do anticipate a delayed start on Thursday. We estimate that we should be able to open the golf course between 11:00-12:00. We should have a better feel for an exact opening tomorrow afternoon. The extreme cold temperatures last night caused the soil to freeze solid. Once those soils have thawed on Thursday we should be able to open the course. The decision on whether to open or not will be a day to day decision. We should have no problem staying open Thursday and Friday. However, weekend temperatures are expected to drop with nighttime lows in the teens. Night time lows that extreme will not allow us to open the following day. We will monitor the situation daily and try to get the word out to the membership as early as possible. Please keep in mind this is not a situation like we have in the Fall with Frost Delays. Our concern with temperatures this low is frozen soil conditions. We monitor the entire soil profile. Not just the top inch or two. If the entire soil profile is thawed then we make the decision to open the golf course. If any part of that profile is frozen then we make the decision at that point to keep the course closed. The reason for this decision is to protect the root structure of our putting surfaces.
There are several things to keep in mind when playing this early in the season.
• The grass is not growing. Therefore ball marks and divots will not recover. We need to take extra effort in repairing ball marks and replacing divots.
• Cart wear areas and cart damage will not recover very quickly. Please obey all posted cart restrictions.
• The tee markers will be placed to set up the golf course very short. We will attempt to save the tee space where the majority of the membership plays from during the season. Please do not play the golf course any longer than where the tee markers are placed. You are free to play the course shorter if you choose. We will only be placing one set of tee markers at this time.
Look forward to seeing you out there,
Gregory Boring
Golf Course Superintendent
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